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Narwhal
Narwhal is the head of the Guild and the leader of the Protectorate's Toronto branch.Narwhal – Head of the Guild and the Protectorate’s Toronto branch. A masterful forcefield user who can create forcefields that intersect (and thus cut) the bodies of nearby opponents. Appears nude, but covers herself in an intricate carpet of tiny forcefields, with a long horn of the same material. - Cast (spoiler free)Narwhal – Leader of both ‘The Guild’ and of the Protectorate station in Toronto, Ontario. Narwhal is an unparalleled wielder of forcefields. - Cast (in depth) Personality A former member of the military, this carried over to her interactions with people. Some of whom were able to guess she had a military background right away.Narwhal turned on the spot, facing Saint square-on, and I got the immediate sense that she had some kind of military background. Another part of me was idly aware that her chest didn’t sway that much, all things considered. The nature of the shard-covering she wore made it pretty clear she wasn’t wearing a bra, but… Right. The same effect she’d used to move the book was holding her entire body. All of the benefits of a full, athletic figure, none of the drawbacks. I was still a little weirded out that she didn’t wear any clothes. In a sense, the scales covered more than a bikini would, but there were no lines or solid objects to break up the natural contours of her body. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.2 Somewhat like Hellhound the manifestation of her abilities caused a mental shift in Narwhal's psychology.Inverness said: I'll ask about Narwhal. It seems she stood out more than other characters, and not just because of her lack of dress. I remember someone describing it as her having a disproportionate presence compared to other characters that were also rarely featured. Is she one of the characters you attempted to write about beforehand? Could you elaborate more on her character and if she'll be featured again in a Worm sequel? If you look at the drafts on my pig's pen blog, I have some stories up there, including the first superhero WIP I put together. Narwhal featured. The protagonist was cannibalized (see my writing approach post in the last thread or the W.o.G. thread) and one of her powers given to Rune (I was trying to fill the gaps and write a magic based superhero), but was so different I don't count her as having survived. Narwhal, by contrast, has the distinction of joining Dragon as one of the first characters I wrote who survived the drafting process of my first superhero writings and made it into Worm. That said, she never had a place in Worm, really. She was almost a cameo for my own personal benefit, and may have more of a role in the sequel. I'm not positive, but I can sort of see it playing out. As a character, she's ex-military, but has a Rachel-like mental issue (and no, it's not exhibitionism) - she spins an awful lot of plates, as head of the Toronto PRT and a prominent member of the Guild. She doesn't stop, and doesn't let herself stop. That's all I'll say here. - comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles She tries to address people she's respects how they want to be addressed. She is formal and naturally inquisitive“Right then, I know most of you,” Narwhal said. “Weaver, of course, we’ve met enough times. I liked your last book recommendation.” “I’m glad,” I said. “Tattletale,” Narwhal greeted her, a little less warmly, “Hellhound-” “Bitch. My enemies call me Hellhound,” Rachel said. “Ah, I’m very sorry,” Narwhal said. She looked genuinely upset at the mistake. “The others, I’m not familiar with.” “Imp and Canary,” I said. Narwhal glanced at Aisha. Of our group, only Tattletale was wearing her full costume. Aisha, Rachel, Canary and I weren’t wearing ours. “No masks?” Imp shrugged. “World’s ending. It’s a way to get in the right headspace, eh? We were talking to Taylor there a bit ago, and what we’re thinking is it’s stupid to spend our time keeping little secrets when there’s bigger fish to fry? Like it’s stupid to dwell on revenge or any of that. So it’s symbolic, isn’t it? A statement? Eh?” Narwhal looked at the yellow-haired girl. “You went without the mask for the same reason?” Canary shook her head. “No.” “Canary is a rogue,” Defiant said. “And a onetime inmate of the Birdcage. She never wore a costume.” Narwhal glanced at Defiant. “Do you know them, then?” He nodded. “Well enough. There’s no risk in letting them near Saint. Imp is a stranger-five, Canary is a master eight, but I would be very, very surprised if she had taken control of anyone here for the purposes of misleading us or breaking Saint out.” “Surprised in what sense? The nature of her power? Because of Weaver and the Undersiders? Or because Canary isn’t that type?” - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.2 Presumed to be an avid reader, as she thanked Weaver for her book recommendation. She considered Chevalier's leniency with Ingenue to be ill advised.“Let me go, and I’ll be good.” Chevalier glanced at Narwhal. "You’re too soft,” Narwhal said. “You wouldn’t?” “I would, but I still think you’re too soft.” - Excerpt from Interlude 28 Reputation Narwhal is the leader of a team with international renown. Further she's considered one of the top heroes in the Protectorate.Parahumans IRC said: Wildbow: Armsmaster appears in the posters and such of the top Protectorate heroes. Wildbow:When they do the image of everyone standing in a 'v' formation Parahumans IRC said: Wildbow: Nah. Legend in front, Alex and Eidolon to the left and right, respectively. Then Myrddin, Chev, Cinereal, Narwhal, Rime, Exalt, Armsmaster, Dragon suit silhouette in the background, wings echoing the wings of the PRT logo over their heads. - IRC conversation archived on Spacebattles Along with Capes like Chevalier, her fellow Guild member Dragon, and Legend. Appearance Narwhal is seven feet tall with long, glossy, pale hair. She uses her power to create a single, three-foot horn on her forehead and coat her skin with fine crystalline scales.Extermination 8.1 After the timeskip her look had been redesigned somewhat, with her horn now curving backward over the top of her head.Narwhal stood just a short distance away, leaning against a wall, a book in her hands. Her costume was skintight, but it took the form of innumerable ‘scales’ of violet-blue tinted crystal, each no larger than a fingernail. Her horn had been redesigned, arcing in a crescent curve. ...Narwhal noticed our approach and closed her book, creating a thin shard of forcefield to act as a bookmark, then two more to hold the cover and back of the book. She pushed it aside, and it floated a distance to her right, stopping in midair, in her reach but not in the way. - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.2 - Excerpt from Cockroaches 28.2 Abilities and Powers Narwhal creates crystalline force-fields and can move them at high velocities. She is able to, if the target is within fifty feet of her, create a forcefield that bisects part of the target's body, such as an appendage or even cleave through the upper thorax.Narwhal was one of the named examples. Despite people’s impressions, she didn’t demonstrate this against Leviathan. She creates crystalline forcefields and can move them at high velocities. She can also, if you’re within fifty feet of her, create a forcefield that bisects part of your body. Bling, you’re missing an arm. Bling, you’re missing an upper body. - Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.3 She also has much finer control, able to use her force fields almost in lieu of telekinesis to manipulate small objects or similar. Narwhal can bypass the Manton effect as a result of her second trigger. Prior to that, she was unable to create force-fields that bisected people.“It’s not like there isn’t precedent for this. We know for a fact that some capes who were once held back by the Manton effect have figured out a way around it, or past it. Narwhal being the most obvious case.” - Excerpt fromInterlude 5 "Narwhal's second trigger." https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/2ktxxt/case_53s_what_were_the_other_52_cases/clorkb7/ Her power was considered to be equally split between offense and defense. History Background Triggered. And then triggered again. Joined the then-failed Guild and was responsible for it being revamped into the elite organization it is today.The Guild is something of a failed effort that mutated. Where other groups were founded and then collapsed, the Guild drew in just enough powerful members to have some clout after the group failed to get traction. They changed tacks. The original goal was to be another Protectorate of sorts, albeit cape-led, with an emphasis on peacekeeping and nonviolent absorption of capes. The problem was that Canada is very spread out, and reaction times are thus slow, when you have 10-30 capes to cover a lot of ground. The initial aims shot too high, higher-ups set expectations and couldn't meet them, and the initial guild (which had none of the Narwhals or Dragons or any of those guys) flopped. It was resurrected around the same time Canada sighed and took on its own Protectorate divisions, when political powers that heavily criticized the PRT wanted certain elements in play, as well as a certain amount of freedom to make certain realities a positive without dealing with PRT bureaucracy (initiatives, acting to help other countries without worrying about the balance of PRT forces). The programs and aims that were pure concept beforehand became the reality. Certain individuals got on board and it worked. The end result is a group that balances a lot of individual autonomy punctuated by demands from higher up. If you're a villain that's not in Protectorate territory and you're crossing lines, the Guild is still something you might worry about. This might be for those who go way overboard (ie. genocide) or cross the lines with pet issues for various members of the Guild (targeting gays, women, interfering with the political process, etc, etc). The Guild, at its heart, is about trying to set standards, and it's got just enough prominent members that it can make others stand up and listen. On the flip side, it draws a lot of criticism due to perceived imbalances in the subjects it focuses on (this goes back to individual autonomy). If one guy gets very active and makes gay rights a huge focus (targeting villains with a propensity for gay bashing) then the Guild gets perceived as having a heavy focus on protecting gays. There's a large-ish non-parahuman staff just trying to enable the capes to do as much good as they can. - Wildbow on Reddit Story Start After the program Armsmaster and Dragon made predicted that Leviathan would attack Brockton Bay, Narwhal traveled to the Protectorate E.N.E.'s base. She listened as Legend addressed them with a pre-battle speech.Extermination 8.1 Narwhal then received an armband from the Brockton Bay Wards. When the ceiling started to cave in, Narwhal flicked two fingers towards the ceiling and shored it up with forcefields. She was later teleported out of the building by Strider.Extermination 8.2 Narwhal later manifested a dozen forcefields and flicked them towards Leviathan. She redirected the forcefields that glanced off Leviathan's skin; having them press against the edges of his body and get in the way of his legs moving. After the dumpster that Ballistic launched at Leviathan forced him backwards, Narwhal sent another forcefield into Leviathan's neck. Moments later, Narwhal was alerted to an approaching tidal wave by her armband. She created forcefields in-between the defending capes and Leviathan before it hit. She was listed among the losses after the final tidal wave hit,Extermination 8.3 this was later shown to be the casualties list as her name did not appear on the Brockton Bay Memorial.Nope. Common misreading. She was included with the wounded and such when Tattletale was. Comment by wildbow on Extinction 27.2 Post-Timeskip She recovered and was seen two years later,Sting 26.2 and was active during Gold Morning. Her power was pivotal at several key junctures during the event. Trivia * One common misconception is that Narwhal was able to create her force fields inside Leviathan's body, and by extension any Endbringer's body, but this wasn't the case. * Narwhal is a consistent element from the earliest drafts of what would become Worm; she always led the Guild.RuneChild Draft of Worm * Like many characters in Worm, Narwhal took her turn as the protagonist for one of the stories many drafts.Comment by Wildbow Fanart Gallery Narwhal by PabelAndNine.jpg|Image by Pabel and Nine on Tumblr. Narwhal by moonarc-dadcqof.jpg|Image by Moonarc on DeviantArt. She hates that song by respicepostte-d7r4t3h.jpg|Comic by RespicePostTe on DeviantArt (click for full image). Narwhal face.jpg|Image by Lonsheep on Deviantart. 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